11-07-2025
Chargebee deepens India play as global clients eye country for more revenue
Subscription and recurring billing management platform Chargebee is increasing its focus on India, as more multinational companies look to the country as a source of revenue.
'India is an important market for two parts: One, our customers to collect money from here. Second, India as a market is growing, especially with the number of companies which are able to list here," said Chargebee co-founder and chief executive Krish Subramanian.
At its core, the company helps businesses automate subscriptions, from helping companies figure out the best pricing models for their services to recognizing sources of revenue, collections, and customer retention. Chargebee is currently valued at $3.5 billion after a $250 million Series H round in 2022 co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital.
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The company's clientele includes large companies like global media conglomerate Condé Nast and British coffee and sandwich chain Pret a Manger, as well as startups like automated marketing platform FMG Suite, restaurant management software Zenchef, and survey-building software company Typeform.
Chargebee has already onboarded several companies as part of its deeper focus on India. Its local portfolio already consists of 'hundreds" of companies. Subramanian said that they were planning to add new Indian clients every quarter, but the company hasn't set a target.
'As a product, we've matured and moved away from just one type of merchant to multiple verticals. Now, we're a horizontal product that serves multiple verticals, so we see that as a significant opportunity," Subramanian said.
India focus
Chargebee's new focus on India can be, in part, attributed to how UPI AutoPay has made payments for recurring billing in India easier for consumers. As a result, it finally makes more sense for the company to work more closely with Indian businesses. 'For systems like ours, the underlying payment processor is a core dependency. When that dependency is eased, it becomes easier for us to work in those markets," Subramanian said. Currently, the company works with RazorPay as its main partner in India but is currently actively scouting out others.
However, pricing-wise, Chargebee costs significantly more than Zoho Billing. For example, Chargebee Billing costs nearly ₹50,000 a month for up to ₹80 lakh a month. In comparison, Zoho Billing's comparable equivalent costs ₹3,499 per month but allows 100,000 invoices a year. However, both Chargebee and Zoho Billing do have customised enterprise offerings.
Several global companies over the years have been looking to India, especially given that they're expecting a significant chunk of their revenue to come from here. For Chargebee's clients, some of them are expecting at least 30% of their revenue to come from the country.
'Our global customers have significant business in India. We help them navigate collecting money from Indian customers, being tax compliant while also reducing the overheads of collecting money with the least amount of failures, the right payment methods," said Subramanian.
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Most of the company's revenue comes from North America, which accounts for 41% of its revenue and Europe, which accounts for 40%, with the rest being made up for by Australia and New Zealand. With its entry into India, the company doesn't foresee giant gains to be made just yet. 'I expect revenue contribution to be right now in between 1 to 2% probably even for the next three years, because those other markets are still growing faster for us," Subramanian said.
Acquisitions
Between 2021 and 2022, Chargebee made a slew of acquisitions, acquiring three companies in that time: Revlock, a revenue recognition tool; Brightback, a customer retention platform; and numberz, a smart accounts receivable and collections automation platform. 'Revenue recognition is a very important part of the business. So, we added that capability through an acquisition," Subramanian said.
In 2025, the company made two more acquisitions, bringing its total to five with the buyout of INAI, a payment, data intelligence and observability platform and Trainn, its most recent acquisition, which creates personalised videos for customer training purposes.
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Back in 2022, the company was reportedly planning to be ready to go public over the next three to five years. However, when asked about an initial public offering in the US, Subramanian said, 'Probably not for the next couple of years, simply because I think now is the best time to build privately because there is so much transformation happening in the market."
He added that for now, the company's investors, including Accel, Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital, Sapphire Ventures, and others, were happy to let them grow privately. 'I'm not going to push for going public right now."
